Croix Meridies
Croix Meridies (in Japanese: クロワ・メリディエス, Kurowa Meridiesu) is the main antagonist of the 2013 anime series Little Witch Academia. Croix is a former friend of the main protagonist Atsuko "Akko" Kagari's teacher and mother figure, Chariot du Nord (currently known under alias Ursula Callistis), who previously helped her in searching for the Seven Words of Arcturus, but grew spiteful towards her over not being chosen to wield the Shiny Rod. Her resentments ultimately grow that she later tricked Ursula to employ sinister spell called Dream Fuel Spirit on her spectators (where young Akko and Diana happened to be two of them), crippling their magical powers in the process and caused their friendship ended by that point. From there on, she schemes to unlock the Grand Triskelion using her techno-magical skills and directly responsible for many misfortunes and problems that protagonists faced in her pursuit of that goal. She was voiced by Junko Takeuchi in the Japanese version, and Caitlyn Muncy in the English version. Appearance Croix is a young woman of tall stature with white skin complexion. Her eyes are aqua, which she paints with a dark pink eyeshadow. Her lilac hair has a wavy hairstyle, with a lock that covers her left eye. She wears a suit that covers her body with a neck that reaches the height of her ears. She has a brown leather saddlebag, a large cape, and high-heeled boots. Sometimes as a student Croix wore her hair long and had glasses, an inversion of Chariot's (whose hair was originally short and who started wearing glasses) disguise as Ursula. However, Croix kept her original hair color. Personality Croix is a highly logical and charismatic witch who can remain uncannily cool under pressure no matter the situation. Back in her school days, she was once a timid and reserved, yet kind and considerate close friend to Ursula aka. Chariot. While dismayed that both Shiny Rod and her dream to obtain Grand Triskellion ended up on the latter's hands, Croix nevertheless reassured Chariot that she indeed worthy and will support her the best she could. Sadly, her inability to let go whatever resentments that born from the Rod's rejection, coupled with Woodward's negligence towards her and Chariot's apparent lack of focus in their quest, eventually consumed her and turned her into bitter, selfish, and calculating person who forcefully played her role in her stead by bypassing the traditional ways of opening the Grand Triskellion, even if it meant she had to betray Chariot by tricking her to employ Dream Fuel Spirit on innocent audiences including young Akko and Diana as part of the said scheme and ended their friendship in process. Croix's descent into villainy from that point also saw her committing a number of fairly horrific deeds with utter lack of hesitation nor remorse, such as nearly ruining the bonds between Akko and Chariot, harming innocent people as part of her Fuel Spirit experiments, coming close to sparking a potential all-out war between England and its rival nation just to activate Noir Rod. In addition of this, she displayed utter lack of hesitation to kill or at least demoralize those who stood in her way. Despite how different her adult personality seemed to be, her concern in Chariot's well-being despite their feud and later, remorse following the fallout with Woodward as well as discovery of Grand Triskellion being not like what she perceived to be, proved that Croix still has what remains of her past self. Her entire actions revealed to partly motivated by the desire to gain Woodward's approval, only to ultimately expose the ancient witch's true color as detached and jaded person who concerned more with the restoration of magic in the world above all else along with perceived favoritism to Chariot for the same reason in the end. This ultimately redeemed Croix before Chariot's eyes, who then fight to protect her from her then out-of-control Noir Rod despite her pleads to save herself and everything she had put Chariot through. After helping the gang stopped Noir Rod and reviving Yggdrasil at the same time, Croix, having comes full circle from being the first person to espouse the importance of believing in one's magic to being reminded firsthand of why such sentiment was correct all along, eventually reverted to her original kind and considerate self, promising to Chariot to find the way to break Wagandea's curse as the first step of her atonement. Overall, she proved herself as both a dependable ally at best and terrifying adversary at worst for Chariot. Abilities and Weapons Weapons *'Sorcery Units': A device made by Croix that she describes as an "evolved" flying broom, but also doubles as a weapon. It has great enough strength to support a human being and can even withstand heavy blows. They are also able to project holograms, equipped with weapons that shoot energy beams and capable of storing the Fuel Spirit Devices. They can also clean, as is expected from any "evolved broom". When Noir Rod went out of control, it's revealed that Sorcery Units also equipped with self-destruct systems. *'Pixels': Croix's signature weapon. small magitronic devices created by Croix in order to absorb emotional energy and convert it into magical power. By joining, they can be transformed into different monsters under Croix's control. Abilities *'Intelligence': Croix is very intelligent, combined with her charisma, enabling her to become a skilled manipulator. *'Charisma': Croix proved to be charismatic as she can easily persuade and manipulate people to get what she wanted. *'Master Engineer': Croix is a highly skilled engineer as she pioneered the field of Magitronics. *'Magic': Croix is a skilled witch, but generally prefers to use her Magitronic devices over casting magic, and when she does cast, it is often through Magitronic mediums like her tablet, though she still retained the ability to use wands. *'Expert Tactician': Croix was able to plan and execute faerie strike at Luna Nova, sending her Noir Fuel Spirit Devices to interfere the duel between Amanda and Louis at Appleton Academy, executing the attack on Wild Hunt Event, and even heat up the riot that caused by controversial soccer verdict. Gallery C8-9pzoUIAEdblG.jpg|Croix appearing in the main credits for the show Woodwardimage8.gif|Croix foreshadowing Episode_14.png|Croix's first appearance in person 433.png|Croix during Skirmish at Wagandea in Episode 21 28.png|Ursula and Croix in the past 93a.png|Croix's Evil Smile 00000285.png|Corix's Breakdown with not only Grand Triskellion was not like what she wanted, but also her Noir Rod ended up mutated into a monster worse than her Chariotandcroixyoung.png|A flashback of Croix and Chariot when Shiny Rod going to choose either her or Chariot tumblr_oo7w88YhIP1ql0375o1_540.gif|Cool Croix Cro3.png|Examining Color Wheel containing data of Fuel Spirit Energy samples taken from various emotions. Croix.png|Croix's evil grin. SchoolYears.jpg|Croix in her school years. f26.jpg|Croix talking with Akko. Cro.png|Croix's moments of defeat as she was shocked that Ursula still protecting her even after various incidents and battles she instigated. Happy_Croix.gif|Croix's Redemption Image-1538103868.jpg Croixfull.png Trivia *"Croix Meridies" is the French term for the Southern Cross constellation. *The monster that appears during Shiny Chariot's magic show in the flashback at the beginning of Episode 1 resembles Croix's magitronic devices closely and makes the same sound before it materializes. *Junko Takeuchi also voices Naruto Uzumaki and Dawn Bellwether in the Japanese dub. Croix's and Naruto's favorite food is ramen. *Croix's character is depicted as both foil and dark reflection of Diana Cavendish. Croix and Diana are both rivals and friends of bearers of Shiny Rod, both of them wished to be chosen as bearer of Shiny Rod only for the Rod choose their friend/rival (Croix was dismayed that Shiny Rod choose Chariot over her, Diana was similarly upset upon finding out that Akko has become the current bearer of Shiny Rod after learning Rod's true nature and purpose), and are very frustrated at the current bearers of the rod's lack of interest on their duty to restore magic. However, whereas Diana starts as a rival to Akko but develops a friendship with her over time, and her intention to gain Shiny Rod was for a noble cause; Croix starts as a friend but develops a strong envy against Chariot, proceeds to forcefully play her role in her stead by bypassing the traditional ways of opening the Grand Triskelion, and just wanted to be the world's greatest witch. *Croix's rivalry with her former best friend Ursula/Chariot which stemmed from being rejected by the power of Shiny Rod/Claiomh Solais, coupled with her starting as the series' main villain before redeeming herself by aiding the latter stopping a great threat she ironically unleashed to the world made her rather similar with Jugglus Juggler from Ultraman Orb Chronicle. Another similarity is her possessing a dark counterpart of their respective rival's iconic item (Noir Rod (magitronic replica of Shiny Rod) for Croix and Dark Ring (darker counterpart of Orb Ring) for Juggler). **Also, the manner Shiny Rod rejected Croix (via. a shock of yellow electrical energy) is eerily similar to how the light of Orb/Voice of Light rejected Jugglus Juggler in Episode 23 of Ultraman Orb, " The Blade of Darkness". Interestingly, both events took place in the flashback and as with between Gai/Orb and Juggler in the latter, the former marked the beginning of the animosity between Chariot and Croix. See also *Noir Rod *Jugglus Juggler External links * * Navigation Category:Female Category:Magic Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Master of Hero Category:Mastermind Category:Fantasy Villains Category:Anime Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:The Heavy Category:Friend of a Hero Category:Redeemed Category:Big Bads Category:Game Changer Category:Homicidal Category:Archenemy Category:Fighters Category:Destroyers Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Bond Destroyers Category:Rivals Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:Imprisoned Category:Neutral Evil Category:Fallen Heroes Category:Envious Category:Trickster Category:Charismatic Category:Sophisticated Category:Mongers Category:Insecure Category:Tragic Category:Sadists Category:Obsessed Category:Delusional Category:Psychopath Category:Master Orator Category:Psychological Abusers Category:Egotist Category:Traitor Category:Betrayed Category:Arrogant Category:Rogues Category:Power Hungry